By Elizabeth Bunnell

Nearly ten years ago a student witnessed a dining hall organization in the Arkansas Union throwing perfectly good pastries into the trash, this wasteful act inspired the launch of a program that recovers thousands of pounds of waste every year.

The student, Cameron Caja, worked alongside the Volunteer Action Center, a dietician, legal experts from Arkansas Law School and Chartwells, the campus dining program, to create the Razorback Food Recovery (RFR) organization.

“We’re a volunteer-run organization that recovers food from each of the dining halls,” Razorback Food Recovery chair Ella-Fei Flesher said. “We recover that food surplus and deliver it to a lot of our community partners such as Salvation Army, Southern hills, etc.”

Flesher, a junior Environmental Science major, joined RFR her freshman year. Later, her friend encouraged her to join the board as the Volunteer Coordinator. Now she serves as the Chair of the program.

“I found a really good community here, and I really care about the planet because I want to live here for the foreseeable future,” Flesher said. 

The mission of RFR is to prevent overproduction, distribute excess food, and educate Northwest Arkansas about sustainable food consumption.

The RFR program recovered more than 6,000 pounds from the Walmart Shareholders event in June. This semester nearly 3,000 pounds of food has been recovered, with an economic equivalent of $6,614. 

According to the University of Arkansas Sustainability Office, the campus dining program has “diverted approximately 252 tons of organic waste from the landfill.”

The university composted approximately 120 tons of food in the year 2021. In 2022 the university composted 34 tons. 

Flesher said she was stunned after seeing the graph related to compost numbers in 2022. 

“The decrease in the quantity of food composted in 2022 compared to the previous year can be attributed to operational challenges faced at Pomfret Dining Hall,” the director of marketing and guest experience at Chartwellssaid Ashton Julian said. “Regrettably, the misuse of composting receptacles by individuals depositing non-compostable waste significantly impacted the city of Fayetteville being able to pick them up to be composted.”

Chartwells has been the primary dining service provider for the university since 1998. Chartwells uses the “Waste Not 2.0” program to track and minimize food waste across campus. The management team runs reports weekly from the Waste Not 2.0 program.

“These reports serve as pivotal resources, offering a detailed understanding of wasteful practices and facilitating proactive measures aimed at reducing food waste,” Julian said. 

Chartwells partners with the city of Fayetteville and RFR to compost food waste and reduce landfill contributions.

“Notably, our collaboration with RFR has facilitated the donation of over 240,000 pounds of food, underscoring our collective effort in addressing food insecurity while minimizing waste,” Julian said.

Flesher said it’s important to reduce food waste because it decreases greenhouse gasses and the food could go to someone who needs it, especially in Arkansas. 

According to the United States Department of Agriculture, Arkansas ranks first in the country for highest percentage of households facing food insecurity at an average of 16.6%. That average is a decrease from the 2010-2012 average of 19.7%.

“Chartwells at the University of Arkansas is dedicated and committed to the advancement and the diminishment of food waste on an annual basis,” Julian said. “We strive to continue to implement strategic initiatives and practices aimed at reducing food waste.”

Involvement with volunteer programs, composting food, and reducing food consumerism are the best ways for individuals to decrease food waste.

“Getting to know your region and helping combat food insecurity is the main reason to get involved with RFR,” Flesher said.

RFR recently started working with Greek Life Recovery to take food from Greek houses and deliver it to partners. 

Another campus program that works to reduce food waste is the Wesley College Ministry. Ministry Assistant Malley Terrones donates uneaten food at the end of every week to the nonprofit organization Lifesource International.

“We chose to start donating food every week because we noticed that a lot of the food that we were not eating on Tuesday nights was just getting thrown away at the end of each week or the beginning of next week,” Terrones said. “It just seemed very wasteful, especially when you drive on College Ave. or MLK and there’s always people standing outside saying they’re hungry. It just felt wrong to be throwing away food.”

Wesley has been donating food for a little over a month, but plans to continue the tradition. Terrones said she believes food waste is a problem everywhere in America.

“I think it’s important that people know we’re donating it because I think a lot of times it’s something that people don’t think about at all,” Terrones said. “It’s something that is very helpful and even the smallest thing can make a difference.”